Chapter Sixty-One: Debut Rules

Upon seeing the content on the television screen, the six people froze on the spot, the light from the television illuminating their unreadable faces.

Ying Zhuo followed them at a distance, and to get a clear shot, he went up and turned on the living room lights.

The moment the light returned with a "snap," Ying Zhuo was momentarily disoriented. He instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes, but through the gap under his arm, he could see that the people in front of the television were still motionless, as if frozen in place.

A silent sigh lingered in the air; even he, as a staff member, felt that the rule was somewhat cruel.

They retreated quietly, giving the Eternal Six Stars team members more time to prepare.

On the screen is a simple and straightforward notification.

[Debut Rules]

Dear trainee team members:

Congratulations on successfully entering the competition stage! You have chosen your performance songs and are about to have your first public performance on stage, where you will be greeted by cheering audiences.

However, now you also need to have a clearer understanding of the competition rules and prepare for each performance.

Before you came here, you all set your final debut goals to some extent, but those goals were certainly incomplete.

Please don't be too surprised that the debut rules are only being told to you now.

1. The team with the most participants in "Team Up" has 9 members, so there are 9 debut spots.

2. The top 9 trainees in the final individual rankings can debut.

3. Individual rankings are determined by a combination of online voting via the Starlight Video APP and scores from a panel of 100 specially invited judges.

4. If none of the top 9 teams contain all the initial members, then the 9 members will form a limited-time group to debut, with an activity period of 1 year.

5. If any of the top 9 members are part of a complete initial team, the team will debut as a whole, and the company will immediately fulfill the debut group contract. The remaining individual trainees among the 9 will debut individually and all will receive debut rewards.

6. Debut rewards include opening the Starlight Gala, exclusive variety show production by Starlight TV, and endorsement deals, as well as several other luxurious rewards to be revealed on the debut night.

The right to interpret the rules belongs to the "Team-Based Camp" program team of Star TV, and all participating teams' companies have agreed to this.

The rules for the performance stage will be gradually unlocked...

Now, let's strive for our rankings! (Smile)

Meng Fanxi was the first to come to his senses. He called everyone to the storage room on the second floor, which was their "base". There were no cameras there, but six small stools were placed there, and they would sometimes discuss things there.

The production team knew that each team needed some space to adjust their mindset, so they turned a blind eye to the existence of the storage room.

The rules are short, so you've probably read them several times already.

This passage is very clear and makes no mention of team hierarchy.

As the production team has always emphasized, team ranking determines treatment within the program.

A dark light flashed in Meng Fanxi's pupils, but individual rankings would determine who would debut.

He raised his eyes and scanned everyone's expressions. They were all silent. He knew they must have been deeply shocked. Even though they had analyzed before that rankings were important, they never expected that the debut result would be linked to individual rankings.

Now is not the time to be discouraged. Meng Fanxi calmly analyzed, "I am currently ranked 11th and Gu Huailang is ranked 10th. The two of us need to be in the top 9 after the first performance. You need to keep your ranking stable. As long as the six of us are in the top nine, we can debut in Weir."

Xu You was very upset, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly why. "I don't understand. Isn't this a team competition show? How come the debut ranking is tied to individual rankings? Even if we debut together, I can't accept the thought of having three other trainees standing next to us."

Lin Ruohe looked at him and said, "They have nothing to do with us. As long as we can debut as a complete group, we will be the only debut group. The three of them will only debut individually and enjoy some debut resources."

The production team made this very clear: whether it's a fixed group or a limited group, the production team will ultimately highlight the team rather than the individual.

"What if it's... who is it? What if he stands next to us, even if he's not in the same group, just standing there..." Xu You was worried that someone might overhear him, so he didn't say Jin Ziran's name.

“Xu You,” Zhang Yang interrupted him, “you’re a little too concerned about him. His presence won’t stop us; it’s caring too much about him that will limit our progress.”

Ren Yuchen nodded in agreement. He disliked Jin Ziran no less than Xu You, but the important thing was that they would debut together. Moreover, in his opinion, the competition would be even fiercer.

Lin Ruohe said, "The production team hasn't revealed what the winner and loser will gain from this battle yet, but it's probably related to the disbanding of the teams."

Given the show's penchant for splitting up teams, they only have one path left: to win the first round.

Meng Fanxi concluded by reminding everyone: "From now on, everyone must be very careful. We are the most likely to make it into the group. Other teams might try their best to see who ranks better in the first performance. If the ranking in the first performance is still in our favor, we will become the thorn in the side of all the teams."

The next morning, as expected, they were greeted by the wary eyes of the team.

S-level teams have priority access to the practice room. Once they have entered the practice room, other teams are not allowed to enter without permission.

Although he now knew that team ranking didn't actually help much with debuting, Meng Fanxi was still glad he got an S-rank, looking at the trainees outside the door glaring angrily at them.

After two hours of intense training, Meng Fanxi suddenly saw Han Jia walking past the door with someone in his arms. Han Jia seemed to be comforting someone next to him, and that person looked like Zhong Chu.

He greeted his teammates and followed them outside. There weren't many people on the road, so Meng Fanxi felt at ease following the two at a distance.

They walked to a bench overlooking the lake, where Zhong Chu slumped his shoulders, looking very dejected.

"Ahem," Meng Fanxi made a serious sound, causing the two to turn around in confusion. They were stunned to see it was him.

Han Jia asked, "What are you doing here?" He twisted his neck, his eyes full of confusion and surprise.

Meng Fanxi didn't answer, but instead asked, "What are you doing here?"

Zhong Chu had returned to his previous posture, his whole body radiating a sense of dejection.

Han Jia hesitated, then remained silent.

Meng Fanxi smiled silently. "Let me guess," he walked up to the two of them and squatted down in front of Zhong Chu. "Is it because your current teammates are throwing tantrums at you after the debut rules were announced?"

Zhong Chu lowered his head even further. He hadn't missed the tremor in Han Jia's pupils; he had guessed correctly.

Meng Fanxi stated the facts in a calm tone: "The debut rules stipulate that only the original group can debut, and your presence at this time seems very..." superfluous. His empathy stopped him from saying those two words.

"So, you're going to blame me too?" Zhong Chu's tone was full of grievance. At first, he only wanted to quit and didn't want to stay here. But a team chose him, so he stopped thinking about those things and just wanted to be responsible to the team that chose him, so he devoted himself to practice.

But after the rules were announced, Zhongli Fu's first reaction was to look at him: "What should we do? With Zhong Chu added, we're no longer considered part of the original team."

Yan Xiang, who is usually relatively introverted, casually said in WONE, "It's okay, there should be a chance to correct it later."

Is he wrong, and needs to be corrected?

Even Jin Ziran, who always had a smile on her face, looked at him as if he were a troublesome problem to be solved.

During practice, he was completely ignored by them, and only then did he understand what Fan Na felt about the Bridge Boys.

But fortunes change, and Fan Na was once again separated from his group during the song selection process. His ranking was grouped with several lower-ranked members of SEVEN, and his new teammates kept their distance from him. However, there was no passive-aggressive behavior, and Fan Na's expression seemed much better.

A few words of argument made Zhong Chu unable to bear it any longer and he rushed out, with only Han Jia following him out to comfort him.

After Meng Fanxi understood what had happened, he led the two people to an inconspicuous sign next to the entrance of the practice room.

The program list for all the teams' performances was posted there. Everyone already knew their competitors and songs when they were choosing their songs, so nobody paid attention to the program list.

Zhong Chu looked at Meng Fanxi with a puzzled expression, his brows furrowed.

When Meng Fanxi's finger touched a spot on the paper, Zhong Chu and Han Jia looked over, paused for two seconds, and then burst out laughing.

...Wu Gu Jiang Zhen's "Between the Old and the New"

Fengdeng Boy's "Please Don't Speak"...

Five Grains Abundance and Kangjin Boys entered the same song room and were forced to split up and regroup. Three members from Five Grains Abundance ranked higher and joined Jin Cheng and Shi Lian from Kangjin Boys, forming a new group called "Five Grains Kangjin".

The remaining members, like those in a ranking, took the last few digits of their names to form the "Fengdeng Boys".

"It's obvious that a reunion is not a good thing, but they even dismantled their own group name. In the morning, they sat together in the cafeteria regardless of which team they were, making fun of each other and laughing so hard. It shows that having a good attitude is the most important thing."

A lint stuck to Zhong Chu's clothes, and Meng Fanxi gently brushed it away. "Do other people's opinions matter that much? What you need to do now is practice diligently and give outstanding performances. Don't worry about them abandoning you; instead, shake them off and find truly like-minded partners."

He glanced at Han Jia, who immediately pretended to look elsewhere.

Meng Fanxi didn't say anything more, taking it as an unnecessary act of kindness. He could always find a familiar feeling in Zhong Chu, who was very much like his past self.

Back in the practice room, his teammates questioned why he had secretly gone out to eat something delicious, otherwise why he had been gone for so long. They circled around him for a while and even got close to smell if there was any hot pot or similar smell.

Meng Fanxi rolled his eyes silently, gave each of them a whack, and then went back to practicing.

Outside of the show, the theme song music video was also released online.